European Comission fears rigged parliamentary elections in Montenegro

Date of publication: 16 10 2016, 01:29

The results of the parliamentary elections to be held in Montenegro on Sunday, October 16, could be falsified. This with the reference to a source in the European Commission was reported by the Montenegrin news agency CGNA on Saturday.

“Reliable sources in the European Commission reported that over the past few weeks they have been very busy in connection with the lists of voters in Montenegro. European officials are trying to compare the demographic data with the voters’ lists provided by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Montenegro”, the agency reported, noting that “the experts of the European Commission are concerned about the mismatch of data”.

“For example, the population of Montenegro as of August 1, 2016 was 622 833 persons, and 465,974 of them were above 18 years, which is the age limit to participate in voting. Following simple logic, it can be assumed that this number corresponds to the electoral register, however it is not. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Montenegro, the list of voters include 529,993 citizens”, reports the agency. “So, this means that there are nearly 64 000 virtual, non-existent, fictional citizens of voting age residing in Montenegro”, concludes the media.

“A comparison of the population eligible to vote in Montenegro, with the number of Montenegrin citizens shows even more amazing results”, the newspaper notes. “Among the 465,974 Montenegrins of voting age, 3873 people have dual nationality, and 23,946 are citizens of other countries. Thus, only 438,191 people are eligible to vote in Montenegro. And the difference with the number of voters included in the ballot list is 91 802”, says the agency.

Since last year a wave of protests against the regime of Djukanovic were held across the country. On the last day of allowed campaigning (October 14), the Democratic Front held a final rally in the capital Podgorica, which gathered about 10 thousand people.